"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love"

Love, at its deepest, often walks hand in hand with pain. To love another person truly and selflessly sometimes demands sacrifice, vulnerability, and the courage to embrace discomfort. When Mother Teresa speaks of loving until it hurts, she evokes the reality that authentic love can sometimes bring sorrow, whether it is through personal sacrifice, empathy with others’ suffering, or letting go of personal needs for the sake of another’s well-being. Yet, the paradox emerges when sustained love, surpassing the threshold of pain, transforms pain itself, transcending it, absorbing it, and ultimately converting it into greater love.

At first glance, loving to the point of pain might seem like a call to martyrdom, yet what is being described is not a glorification of suffering but the transformative power of genuine, outpouring compassion. Pain, in this vision, is not a final destination but a passage, an experience that, when accepted in the spirit of love, loses its bitterness. The more one gives selflessly, the more one discovers an inexhaustible wellspring of love, uncovering reserves of compassion and patience that might otherwise have remained hidden. The act of continuing to love, even in the face of hurt, dissolves ego and expectation. This erasure of self-centeredness gives birth to a more unconditional, resilient, and redemptive form of love, one that is far less tethered to personal reciprocation or immediate gratification.

Mother Teresa’s words suggest that true love, pushed beyond pain, can no longer be diminished by it. Hurt becomes less an obstacle and more a stepping stone toward ever-deeper compassion. Choosing to respond to the challenges of love with even more love leads to spiritual and emotional growth, cultivating a heart open to embrace all, regardless of the cost. In such love, pain is reconfigured not as a wound but as an avenue into profound connection and lasting peace.